Campbellnomics - Dec. 14

They don’t ask how, they ask how many. Here at THN we don’t ask how many, we ask how many of them mattered.

That’s the essence of Campbellnomics a statistic exclusive to thn.com that provides a tangible measure for meaningful goals and situational scoring.

Here’s how it works.

Points are scored in the Campbellnomics system only on goals that matter relative to the result and the time of the game. We’re not interested in the player who scores the fifth and sixth goals in a 6-2 victory, but we are interested in players who score in the following circumstances: the first goal of the game; a goal that puts a player’s team ahead in the game; a goal that pulls a player’s team into a tie; any goal that leads to a comeback; a game-winning goal; an overtime goal; and, a shootout goal.

There are, however, a couple of other wrinkles in Campbellnomics that you won’t find in the NHL’s statistics. First, we believe a goal is worth more than an assist and that’s why goals are worth one point in Campbellnomics and assists are worth a half a point. We also have a different idea of what constitutes a game-winning goal. The NHL defines a game-winner as the goal that provided the margin of victory, but we define a game-winner as the goal that put the team ahead in the game to stay.
Therefore, if a player scores the all-important first goal of the game, he automatically receives two points, one for the first goal of the game and one for putting his team ahead. If he scores the overtime winner or the deciding goal in a shootout, he receives three points – one for putting his team ahead, one for the game-winner and one for the overtime/shootout goal.

The ultimate Campbellnomics goal would be an overtime goal or shootout deciding goal in a 1-0 victory, as Cory Stillman of the Florida Panthers did against the Montreal Canadiens last week. That would give the scorer four points – one for the first goal of the game, one for putting his team ahead, one for the game-winner and one for the overtime/shootout goal.

Obviously, there are some stark differences between Campbellnomics and the NHL scoring race. For example, Henrik Sedin is tied for second in NHL scoring, but is nowhere to be found in the top 20 in Campbellnomics, while the injured Teemu Selanne is tied for 89th in NHL scoring, but is fourth in Campbellnomics.

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS

RK

NHL RK

PLAYER

TEAM

FIRST

AHEAD

TIED

COMEBACK

GWG

OVERTIME

SO

TOTAL

G

A

G

A

G

A

G

A

G

A

G

A

1

T6

Alex Ovechkin

Wsh

8

2

10

4

3

6

1

1

6

2

1

1

37

2

4

Sidney Crosby

Pit

3

2

9

5

3

4

1

7

3

1

1

3

35.5

3

27

Mike Cammalleri

Mtl

4

2

8

6

4

3

3

1

4

1

1

1

2

32.5

4

90

Teemu Selanne

Ana

4

2

8

3

3

3

1

6

1

1

2

29

13

Zach Parise

NJ

3

4

5

10

2

3

1

2

7

4

29

20

Jarome Iginla

Cgy

6

3

9

3

2

3

1

5

2

1

29

7

18

Wojtek Wolski

Colo

3

5

8

8

1

1

2

6

2

1

28

24

Ilya Kovalchuk

Atl

2

2

6

3

4

4

2

1

6

1

2

28

9

5

Anze Kopitar

LA

4

4

7

7

3

4

3

2

2

27.5

10

T40

Mike Fisher

Ott

1

5

6

6

6

2

4

2

2

1

27

11

T9

Brad Richards

Dal

3

7

4

12

2

4

2

1

4

2

26.5

T6

Dany Heatley

SJ

3

4

8

6

5

4

1

3

1

26.5

13

T36

Jamie Langenbrunner

NJ

3

3

6

7

1

2

2

4

4

3

26

2

Marian Gaborik

NYR

4

3

6

4

5

4

2

2

3

26

15

T97

Milan Hejduk

Colo

4

2

9

3

1

1

5

2

2

25

16

T31

Mikko Koivu

Min

1

2

3

6

3

5

3

2

2

3

1

3

24.5

1

Joe Thornton

SJ

2

5

3

14

6

4

2

6

24.5

17

Rick Nash

Clb

4

4

6

5

4

2

4

1

2

24.5

19

34

Alex Semin

Wsh

4

4

6

6

3

2

1

2

2

1

24

22

Henrik Zetterberg

Det

1

3

4

8

2

5

1

2

3

3

1

2

24

Campbellnomics is updated Tuesdays only on thehockeynews.com. For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, Subscribe to The Hockey News magazine.